In these gritty, imaginative stories set in the mountains and small
towns of the South--often in motels, theme parks, or resorts--men and
women find themselves at the mercy of an inspiration gone wrong: a man
on a tryst is seduced by a ghost; a woman conducts a test to discover
who is her true best friend--her husband or her dog; a beleaguered young
writing professor goes one step too far while chaperoning the famous
writer he finds darkly alluring. In the title story, an ex-high-school
basketball player living an uneventful life in her small hometown as a
cashier helps her boyfriend rob a lottery winner, and finds herself on
an epic journey of fear, deceit, and betrayal.